Posts Tagged ‘Motor City bad beat jackpot’

Unlocking a $1 million bad beat jackpot is already a rare occurrence. But how about the combination of seeing a meteor and winning a massive poker jackpot?

This is exactly what happened to poker player Kenny Tallent of Battle Creek, Michigan. Tallent was on his way to the MotorCity Casino in Detroit, when he saw a meteor falling from the sky.

“It was like a big, green flash I saw out of the corner of my eye,” Tallent told Wwmt.com. “My first thought was it was a nuclear bomb or something.”

The meteor that Tallent saw broke apart around 20 miles above Earth, with rock fragments landing near Detroit. Parts of Canada, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin saw the rare event.

“Maybe seeing the meteor was a precursor to my luck that night,” Tallent said.

How did the Poker Bad Beat Jackpot Happen?

Tallent, who’s been playing poker for 13 years, never expected to actually win the $1 million bad beat jackpot. But then again, he also didn’t anticipate seeing a meteor.

The Battle Creek native got four-of-a-kind queens. And another player flipped over four 3s, for a lower four of a kind. The losing hand qualified for the bad beat jackpot, which kicked off a celebration.

“I looked at him and said ‘do you got it?’ He looked at me and said, ‘do you got it?’ And, we both rolled our hands over and we went crazy. We started jumping up and down and dancing,” recalled Tallent. “The whole room gravitated to our table.”

After winning the hand, Tallent scooped 20% of the prize, or $213,713. The other player collected 40%, or $427,424.

“I’m gonna up my 401k contributions, so get closer to retirement,” Tallent said with regard to his winnings.

“I do want to take the money to go play in the World Series of Poker this year. And I’m hoping after this summer you’ll be interviewing me again after I win the World Series of Poker.”